In the wake of President Biden's announcement of an initiative to send volunteers door-to-door to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID, right-wing media and allies of former President Trump have tried to paint the initiative as a sinister plot to force vaccines on the populace, even using Nazis analogies to slander the effort.
Writing in The Washington Post this Friday, Aaron Blake says that while there are legitimate questions as whether the door-to-door campaign is a good use of government resources, the rhetoric emanating from the right-wing media sphere could lead to some "ugly scenes."
"It is not a privacy violation to knock on someone's door, and efforts to bully — rather than truly provide information and access to vaccines, as the Biden White House says this is about — would surely be captured on video and go viral in a way that would greatly discourage such things," Blake writes.
While numerous scenarios could result from the effort, it's possible the whole thing could backfire if it causes vaccine skeptics to dig in against Big Brother, according to Blake.
"But the situation is only made more volatile by people making Big Brother appear bigger than it is, based upon rumor and innuendo. And that's what's happening right now."
Read the full op-ed over at The Washington Post.